Florida Poly's Race Against Time

Sunday

Apr 7, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Ava L. Parker talks with excitement about the many tasks and challenges of bringing life to Florida Polytechnic University.

By GLENN MARSTONTHE LEDGER

Ava L. Parker talks with excitement about the many tasks and challenges of bringing life to Florida Polytechnic University.Hiring faculty to match the polytechnic's unique-to-Florida process of research, analysis and direct application to business; recruiting students; completing buildings; finding funding; and filling in the thousands of unseeable blanks in between bring answer after answer after answer from Parker, the poly interim chief operating officer.There is no lack of smart solutions if only there will be enough hours and days, and weeks and months, between now and the opening of Florida's 12th state university in northeast Lakeland in August 2014.Parker spoke to Ledger news editors, a reporter and the Editorial Board on Thursday."The board of Florida Polytechnic is building a standalone institution," Parker said. "That's as opposed to the former arrangement under which USF Polytechnic was part of the USF System, and also as opposed to suggestions that a partnership with a research or technical university could be helpful."Our idea is that a standalone institution is going to be in a better position to remain nimble," Parker said. "When we have a partnership relationship wherein we have a parent, or a partnership relationship wherein we have a sister-brother type relationship, in those instances we will also have to take on many of the practices of that have been previously adopted by those universities."Florida Poly will need all the agility and speed it can find because it faces a monumental race against time.The August 2014 opening of the university to its first class of students is not the only fundamental deadline the university faces.It also comes under a countdown of accomplishment specified by Florida Statute 1004.345, which carries a completion date of Dec. 31, 2016. Many of the decisions being made now will affect the polytechnic's outcome against the benchmarks set by the Florida Legislature last year when it established the polytechnic by writing it into law.They include becoming accredited, having students with a full-time equivalency of 1,244 and completion of three buildings, including residence halls for 190 students.This may be why Parker speaks with such enthusiasm about Ghazi Darkazalli from Bedford, Mass., the university's first academic hire. He is interim vice president of academic affairs and serves as provost. Previously he was president and CEO of Marian Court College in Swampscott, Mass."I talk to Dr. Darkazalli all the time about the fact that I need more people who are into research on the academic side so they can start building out some of the things we discuss."Development of curriculum is critical now, Parker said.So is student recruitment, she said. "In order for me to have that class to come in, we have to start recruiting students like now. So we have a couple of positions that are open for student recruiter as well as for admissions director."The to-do list remains long, but, as the staff expands, the rate of completion will increase.[ Glenn Marston is editorial page editor. Email: glenn.marston@theledger.com. Phone: 863-802-7600. ]